Topic: Brendan Ryan

Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is featured in a team commerical hawking his special brand of hot sauce.

Since we’re two hours away from gametime and the fate of humanity won’t exactly be settled today in any event, we bring you some lighter fare designed to liven up an otherwise routine day at spring training.

It’s the Mariners TV commericals, one of the team’s better marketing endeavors the past decade-plus. Every team needs to market something and they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Not sure how many thousands a video will be worth, but it saves me having to type them all. Anyhow, here are the commercials for your viewing pleasure, falling under a new “True to the Blue” slogan the M’s are using.

As usual, the spots are a collaboration between the Mariners and the Seattle-based Copacino+Fujikado agency, directed by Ron Gross of Mercer Island-based Blue Goose Productions.

1:13 p.m.: The Mariners trail 4-2 here in the bottom of the fourth, where Justin Smoak just notched his second hit of the game on a two-out liner to center. Smoak earlier hit an RBI double to right (both hits came batting from the left side) and gave us a chance to see Jesus Montero turn on the wheels trying to score from first base. Montero…well, um, he got thrown out. He might win a potato sack race, but for now, any other speed competition is best left to the pros inthe footwork department.

But Smoak’s continued hitting from the left side is reason for optimism. Fix that problem, a lot of what’s plagued him will go away.

Brendan Ryan hit a solo homer in the third inning to draw the Mariners within a run, but the Angels countered in the top of the fourth to restore the two-run lead.

Hank Conger rips a slider from Jeremy Bonderman over the right field fence for a three-run homer in the first inning of this afternoon’s game in Peoria, AZ.

12:15 p.m.: Jeremy Bonderman looked like he might be getting out of a two-on, one-out jam in the first. But after getting Chris Ianetta to pop out on the first pitch, Bonderman served up a three-run homer to right field by Hank Conger. Not the way Bonderman wanted to start his first game action since 2010. He threw mostly fastballs, missed on some sliders in a walk to Peter Bourjos, then saw Conger hit a 1-1 slider over the fence. He trails the Angels 3-0 after a half-inning of play.

Mariners infielders converge on a pop-up during a drill earlier Thursday in Peoria, AZ.

The weather down here has taken a turn towards the cool side but at least it wasn’t raining today like it was on Wednesday. That means the Mariners were able to get plenty of fielding drills in to make up for yesterday’s rain-abbreviated workout.

On the outfield side of things, it was interesting to see one group that consisted of Michael Morse and Jason Bay in left field, Franklin Gutierrez in center and Michael Saunders and Raul Ibanez in right. They too turns getting to balls in the gaps, hitting the cutoff men with relay throws and stuff like that. It’s entirely possible those five guys could be your Opening Day outfield for this team, at those respective positions. But we’ll see. Don’t forget, the team still has Casper Wells in the mix.

“We were able to get a lot of work done today,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. “We had to make up a little bit fundamentally for yesterday. The guys did a nice job with that.”

The team opens Cactus League play tomorrow against the San Diego Padres in the annual Charity Game at Peoria Stadium. Wedge said he’ll try to get position players an at-bat or two over a few innings. Two players who won’t be taking part in any of that will be shortstop Brendan Ryan and second baseman Dustin Ackley , both coming off surgery and being eased back into things this spring.

We’re just about set to kick off the 2012-2013 free-agent season for the Mariners, with only Hisashi Iwakuma left to figure out. The Mariners have until tomorrow to re-sign Iwakuma — as per a stipulation in his contract — or else he goes on the open market and would not be eligible to play for Seattle until May 31 if he was to come back here.
In other words, he signs in the next day or so, or he isn’t playing here.
The exclusive window the Mariners had to re-sign their remaining free agents came and went last night with no further deals. (NOTE: Actually, that’s not true. The deadline for that is at 9 p.m. PT tonight, not last night as had been reported in many places, including here I guess.)
That means, we now know where the team’s payroll roughly stands. It isn’t too tough to figure out, but there are also a couple of things to keep in mind, like Danny Hultzen’s major league deal and Miguel Olivo’s buyout. The Mariners, for their own accounting purposes, tend to keep things like those on-the-books for ensuing seasons, as they did with Dustin Ackley’s Hultzen-like deal in the past. As well as buyouts for guys like Bill Hall and Jack Wilson, which were similar to Olivo’s and carried over to the following year’s payroll figures.
So, keeping that in mind, the Mariners currently sit at roughly $41 million in guaranteed money committed to their 2013 team. They will have to pay out another $12 million or so in arbitration awards, unless they non-tender one of their eligible players. Assuming Hultzen stays in the minors to start the season and the teamfills out its remaining roster spots with minimum wage guys, the roster going into 2013 would be roughly $62 million.
Last year’s payroll came in just under $82 million for the Opening Day roster. But throw in $1.2 million to pay Shawn Camp and Hong-Chih Kuo to go away, plus another $1.7 million for Hultzen’s guaranteed deal, you get about $85 million as a total payroll figure at the start of the year.
In other words, playing by those same parameters, the team now has about $23 million in room to play with just to get back to that $85 million figure. They are about $33 million in payroll away from where they began the 2011 season.
So, yeah, the Mariners should be able to go after and actually sign some free agents this off-season. Heck, they could have done it last winter, knowing they would be having so much money come off the books in just 12 months time. You don’t go and sign guys to deals of three years or more based strictly on what payroll commitments are for the 12 months ahead.
There has to be some foresight involved in the process. Right now, the Mariners have just under $41 million committed to Felix Hernandez, Chone Figgins, Franklin Gutierrez, Ackley and Hultzen.
This time 12 months from now, they can free up an additional $15 million and change once the Figgins and Gutierrez deals run out — assuming the Mariners merely buy Gutierrez out for $500,000.
So, all that should be kept in mind when we debate what the team can and cannot afford over the longer term. Some teams have already gotten the jump on trades and signing back some of their own players.Brandon League just got a three-year, $22.5-million deal from the Dodgers, which makes the $5 million he earned in Seattle last season seem relatively small. We’ll have to keep an eye on salary inflation, naturally, because having $23 million to spend this winter might not be anywhere close to whatit was two or three years ago.
So, we’ll see. On the turn, I’ll show you specific salary breakdowns.
Photo Credit: AP

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Another year of Gold Glove Awards, another controversy in the making after Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan tonight was beaten out at the shortstop position by J.J. Hardy of the Baltimore Orioles. Elvis Andrus of the Rangers was the other finalist.Dustin Ackley had been a finalist at second base, but was beaten, as expected, by Robinson Cano of the Yankees. Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox was the other finalist.
But it’s the shortstop position and Ryan’s non-win that should garner plenty of attention tomorrow. The Gold Gloves have come under increased fire of late for a methodology that at times favors players with better offensive statistics, as opposed to merely grading them on glovework.
Hardy fared well in many of the traditional defensive measurements, like fielding percentage and a lack of errors. But Ryan cleaned up in some of the newer, advanced statistical categories, leading to his winning a Fielding Bible Award last week.
Ryan hit only .194 this season and his lack of offense was deemed as something to watch once this year’s Gold Glove voting — conducted by managers and coaches — was completed.
Because when it came to the newer defensive stats, Ryan had no peer.
In the Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) metric, Ryan posted a 27 compared to18 for Hardy and 8 for Andrus.
When it came to Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), Ryan scored a 14.7,compared to 11.4 for Hardy and 8.8 for Andrus.
So, not much of a contest there.
Photo Credit: AP

How soon will Mike Zunino be the Mariners’ everyday catcher?
Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan didn’t just win his first Fielding Bible Award today, he destroyed all comers. Ryan is one of nine winners at each position throughout MLB for the relatively new awards, which, in my opinion, have the most legitimacy for any defensive prize you’ll find.
They are chosen by a panel of 10 experts from the media and stats business, people who are informed about some of the more advanced metrics out there. These metrics are far from perfect, but they are still better than anything previously used. And unlike the Gold Glove Awards, chosen by coaches who rarely see players they are voting for more than a few times per season, I think the methodology behind the Fielding Bible Awards is superior.
John Dewan, the founder of Baseball Info Solutions and author of The Fielding Bible (and creator of the Defensive Runs Saved stat) helps organize the awards each year.
Here is what he had to say about Ryan:“Brendan Ryan is the best defender in baseball. Period. Make that double period. His has saved 67 runs for his teams defensively over the last three years, the highest total among all players. The next highest runs saved total is not even close (Michael Bourn, 51).

UPDATE (2:52 p.m.): Franklin Gutierrez has left the ballgame with left groin tightness. He appeared to hurt himself while running the bases in the third inning. Michael Saunders in now in center, Trayvon Robinson enters the game and is playing in left field.
This is truly unbelievable to watch, but the game is still tied 2-2 in the seventh inning despite the fact the Mariners are outhitting the A’s 11-2. OK, maybe it’s not so unbelievable if you’ve watched this team the past four or five seasons, but I mean, that top of the seventh was a bit too much.
A leadoff double by Brendan Ryan, then a single by Trayvon Robinson put runners at the corners with nobody out. No problem for the A’s, though, since Casper Wells, Kyle Seager and Jesus Montero all went down swinging.
That’s been a problem of late — putting the ball in-play when needed. We saw it during that 20-strikeout game in Anaheim and we’re witnessing it again today. Poor Erasmo Ramirez is holding the A’s to just two hits through six and this is all he’s got to show for it.2:07 p.m.: Seattle was finally rewarded for its hit barrage against Tommy Milone as Franklin Gutierrez led the third inning off with a double, Casper Wells added an infield single and then Kyle Seager singled to bring the first run home. Jesus Montero then grounded into a double play, but Justin Smoak delivered his second single of the game to tie it 2-2.
What makes this game most interesting so far is that the Mariners are outhitting Oakand 8-1 already, despite being tied. Could have a big lead with a few better-executed plays.1:50 p.m.: Still a 2-0 game midway through the second inning after the Mariners botched a three-hit frame on a questionable decision by third base coach Jeff Datz. I’ve been on board with most of Datz’s aggressive calls this season, but I think this was just a bad decision by him to wave Justin Smoak home from second base on a scorching line drive single to right by Carlos Triunfel.
The ball was bobbled momentarily by right fielder Josh Reddick — namely because it was hit so hard — but the outfielder kept it in front of him and easily recovered. Datz has to recognize that and had time to call Smoak back and get the other runners behind him to retreat.
Also, given how hard the ball was hit and how slowly Smoak runs, Datz has to account for all of that when he sees the bobble. In other words, Reddick still had plenty of margin for error working for him and the bobble wasn’t so bad that it would eliminate his margin.
The end result spelled that part out for us. Smoak was easily nailed at the plate.
If there were two out at the time, I would have understood, but this was too big a gamble to take this early on with only one out.1:33 p.m.: Those were two of the uglier throws we’ve seen by Mariners outfielders in a while. The Mariners trail 2-0 after an inning of play, with no help from the outfield defense so far. Yoenis Cespedes tripled to right field and the A’s waved Stephen Drew around from first base.
Casper Wells tried to throw home — it appeared, since he came nowhere near the cut-off man — but the ball wound up a third of the way between the plate and third base. So, that was the first run. Then, a rather shallow pop-up to center field by Brandon Moss had Cespedes tagging from third base.
Franklin Gutierrez probably had no chance in any event because Cespedes is so quick, but the throw from center was awful and again pulled catcher Jesus Montero well up the third base line.
So, it’s 2-0. Not the best start for pitcher Erasmo Ramirez. Not will this be the best finish to a season by the Mariners if the score holds and they go 1-5 on the trip.
Gutierrez doubled to open the game, but was stranded on second by a popout, a strikeout and another popout. What channel’s the football game on?12:24 p.m.: This hasn’t been the best of road trips for the Mariners, who have mostly played hard but post a 1-4 record on it. Today is the final road game of the season for Seattle and Dustin Ackley will be watching it from the dugout.
Ackley went hitless yesterday, but did put some good swings on balls only to come away with nothing to show for it.
Mariners manager Eric Wedge said today that he’s proud of how Ackley has held up day-in and day-out through the slumps of his first full season in the majors. But he’s giving Ackley the day off against left-hander Tommy Milone and starting Carlos Triunfel at second base.
Remember yesterday, when I talked about how the Mariners will be in the market for a backup infielder next season. Triunfel could be one of those up for the job. He’s still young enough at 22, but this will be his sixth year with the organization. He’s on the 40-man roster, so the team won’t lose him by keeping him in Class AAA.
But you don’t want to tie up a roster spot on a guy forever, so the M’s at some point soon will face decisions about Triunfel. Remember, if he’s taken off the roster, he’d have to be outrighted to the minors and could get claimed.
So, that’s why he’s getting looked at now. Like I said, you don’t want guys tying up roster spots forever if you aren’t going to use them and the Mariners have to figure out where Triunfel fits into their plans, if at all.
Franklin Gutierrez gets to take Ackley’s leadoff spot.

Jason Vargas just called it a season after carrying a 4-1 lead through the seventh inning. The Mariners have only four hits today, but two of them were home runs and they also scored on that bizarre play earlier in which two errors were committed by the A’s.
A good sign? Vargas is 30-3 in his Seattle career when the M’s score at least four runs.
The M’s haven’t had a pair of pitchers throw at least 215 innings in the same season since Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia in 2002. But Vargas (217 1/3) and Felix Hernandez (226 2/3) have now done it.2:21 p.m.: We’ve played four innings here and the Mariners have a 4-1 lead, based largely on a pair of homers in the fourth by Kyle Seager and Michael Saunders — the latter a two-run shot. Seattle had opened the scoring in the second inning when an attempted double play went terribly awry. A’s first baseman Brandon Moss had scooped up a grounder and stepped on his bag for one out, then tried to throw to second to nab John Jaso.
But that throw went into left field. Jaso took off fr third and Yoenis Cespedes tried to throw him out, only to see the ball wind up in the A’s dugout.
Jaso was awarded the plate.
Cespedes made up for it in the bottom of the fourth, when, down 4-0, he scored all the way from first on a single to right field. Cespedes was off and running on the pitch as Brandon Moss grounded one through the open right side. Cespedes slowed only briefly at third and then, when Casper Wells made an obligatory pump fake his way, took off and easily scored on a headfirst slide before the beleagured Wells could get the ball there in time.

Received an interesting item from a reader, Todd Myers, today who tried to make the argument that Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan has a glove that is about 15 times more valuable to his team than were the legs of Rickey Henderson to his club the year he stole a record 130 bases in 1982.

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Myers said he came up with the idea today when reading a blog post called Stat Of the Week from Fielding Bible author and advanced defensive metrics pioneer John Dewan. In his list of frontrunners for the annual Fielding Bible Awards — which awards one prize to each of the top defenders in the majors at 10 positions — Dewan lists Ryan as the favorite for the shortstop award.
The post states: It is hard to believe that Brendan Ryan has never won either a Fielding Bible Award or a Gold Glove. Ryan has at least 18 Defensive Runs Saved in each of the last three seasons, and he has already flown by those previous totals with 29 this season. That’s 12 more than J.J. Hardy, the closest shortstop behind him. In addition to covering ground, Ryan has converted an impressive 77 percent of his opportunities for double plays, which is a career high. Ryan leads all players in Runs Saved and could break through for his first Fielding Bible Award.
Seeing all those runs saved got reader Myers thinking: how would some of the underrated things Ryan does with his glove compare to one of the more celebrated baseball feats of the past 30 years — Henderson’s steals?
Looking at Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), a stat Dewan created through his Basbeall Info Solutions company to measure a player’s total defensive value, we see that Ryan has saved 29 runs.
According to sabermetric theory, 10 runs equals one extra win to a baseball team.
So, Ryan’s glove has added roughly three wins to the 2012 Mariners.
How about Henderson?